Callmeishmael

Sorry, they headed back to the US a couple of years ago.

A friend had to do something similar and she hired an American immigration lawyer, rather than a local Thai agent.

He seems to 'know where the bodies are buried', probably literally in his case!

My Grandparents did the same, as did everyone in their generation. My paternal grandparents lost their eldest daughter at 16. My maternal grandparents lost a son and daughter at 2 and 4. You benefited from herd immunity - all of the kids around yours were already vaccinated. If every child is unvaccinated, then, to quote my oldest aunt "in those days everyone lost at least one".

Five or six years ago a section of the concrete footpath alongside the klong near me collapsed. A rickety wooden structure was built to replace the missing 25 - 30 meters and then nothing was done for years after that. Recently the wooden section became more or less unusable and was repaired, but after years of neglect, there is no sign of a proper repair/replacement of the broken section.

There is (or was before Covid) a book fair at Q. Sirikit Center once or twice a year. I went there a few times with my wife and it is always packed! The subway was standing room only, both coming and leaving.

I know about 3 African-Americans teaching here in Thailand and none of them had too much trouble finding a job. All 3 have University degrees. 1. A retired diplomat and journalist who taught English at a number of schools until he retired for health reasons. 2. An ex-policeman who taught for a couple of years before getting an non-teaching online job. 3. A young woman who teaches younger learners and is treated well by her employers. One thing that one of them told me, is that when they made if clear that they were American, not African, Thai attitudes toward them became much more positive. If they think that you are Nigerian, they automatically think that you are a con-man!

If I recall the original story correctly, the con-man used his office in the bank and issued passbooks and statements using official bank documents, but never entered any of the information into the bank's official books. He basically ran a Ponzi scheme for several months right in his office and pocketed millions. The bank claims that they don't own the victims anything, as they did not have real accounts with the bank! Furthermore, we are expected to believe that the bank manager or the other bank employees didn't see to notice anything suspicious about the line of foreigners queuing up outside the assistant manager's office every payday with bags of cash!

So, 5 Chinese? 9 Chinese? Is the one story or are they mixing up two stories? Or is this another example of Thai journalism majors not being able to do basic arithmetic?

We can only hope!!

I used to take a train from Hua Lamphong out to Pattanagan for an evening job out near the airport. For 3 baht I could travel half-way across Bangkok. The train was always packed with commuters and the trip took 45 minutes - only slightly slower than a taxi and about 1/50 the cost!

Well, Monday came and went with no more positive tests. However, the kids and the Thai teachers are not very good and social distancing. We will see how the tests turn out next Monday!

You forgot the Graduate Degree, the proof in x-amount of income, and whatever other nonsense that they can dream up to make this unusable for any real digital nomad.

If you have a PhD and experience in teaching and have some published research papers, most Thai universities would snap you up right away, regardless of your age. Universities are rated on the percent of their faculty with PhDs and the number of papers published. If you can make those numbers look better, you will be a real prize for them!

It was already changing to be more Chinese - Thai style. Fewer open bars with cute, brown Isaan girls, more discreet closed buildings with 'white' northern girls that appeal to Asian tastes. Also, as Chewit pointed out, prostitution is moving online, rather than have to go to a bar and talk to a bunch of old men, the girls will just check their phones once in a while to see if they have any new customers.

My school has been doing a phased reopening, with different grades showing up every few days. All of the students and teachers have to do weekly ATK tests and submit them online every Sunday night or Monday morning. One of the moms thought that two lines was negative and brought her daughter the school! The school nurse noticed the results while going through the pictures of the results and the girl was quickly isolated and her mom was called to pick her up. With hundreds of students being tested I will not be surprised to see some more positive tests on Monday!

Politician/gangster/businessman is a surprisingly common job description in Thailand!

Can you spot the Chinese in this picture?

I see only one small door toward the stern of the boat. How long will it take people to exit and enter the ferry?

If they will supply vaccines other than A-Z or SInovac, I'm sure that people will take them. If they push the marginally effective Sinovac or A-Z with it's reputation for side-effects, people will continue to be reluctant to get Vacc'd. Also, are vaccines even available outside of the big cities?

Here in Bangkok a friend's mother died of covid and his father spent a couple of weeks in the hospital. Another friend's mother was on a ventilator for a few weeks, but slowly recovered. A couple of foreign friend also got sick with covid, one (a half-Thai with a Thai passport) went to a field hospital with his wife and 3 kids. The other one didn't tell anyone, just self-isolated in his room until he recovered.

I got a message from my school a couple of days ago: Any teacher that got 2 Sinovac OR Sinopharm shots should get a 3rd booster shot of a different vaccine before coming back to school. It seems that even Thai-Chinese school owners don't trust either of the Chinese vaccines!

A quick, informal survey of my P4 - P6 students showed that about at least 1/4 of them lived in the same house as their grandparents. Before opening the schools should be asking how many of the students grandparents have been vaccinated? Given the governments priorities unless those grandparents are in the military or work for a company that is owned be some high-so person, I would be surprised if they were all jabbed.

I've got a different problem. Back in June & July I signed up for Expatvac for over 60s and got two Sinovac shots (there were no AZ shots available when I was finally was able to make an appointment). Now, my school has informed me that we will be opening in-person classes on 7 December and any teachers who go Sinovac or Sinopharm shots will need a 3rd booster of any other kind of vaccine! I know that many people are still awaiting their first or second shot, does anyone have a suggestion as to how foreigner can get a AZ or Pfizer booster in Bangkok?

Judging from the pictures in his tweet, proof of vaccination is needed to enter the building. If you don't have that it looks like you just have to fill out an extra form.